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Oakland is the largest city and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
of
Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. ...
, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the
East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...
region of the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...
, the third largest city overall in the Bay Area and the eighth most populated city in California. With a population of 440,646 in 2020, it serves as the Bay Area's trade center and economic engine: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in
Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
, and the fifth busiest in the United States of America. An act to incorporate the city was passed on May 4, 1852, and incorporation was later approved on March 25, 1854. Oakland is a
charter city In the United States, a charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than solely by general law. In states where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its orga ...
. Oakland's territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
, and north
coastal scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
. In the late 18th century, it became part of a large ''rancho'' grant in the colony of
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and
redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...
timber were logged to build San Francisco. The fertile flatland soils helped it become a prolific agricultural region. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the western terminal of the
Transcontinental Railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...
. Following the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity ...
, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the population, increasing its housing stock, and improving its infrastructure. It continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port,
shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...
s, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry.


History


Ohlone era

The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun natives, who lived there for thousands of years. The Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the
Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...
(a
Miwok The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ...
word meaning "western people"). In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, a stream that enters the San Francisco Bay at Emeryville.


Spanish and Mexican eras

In 1772, the area that later became Oakland was colonized, along with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to
Luis María Peralta Luis María Peralta (1759 in Sonora, New Spain – August 26, 1851) was a Spanish-born Californio ranchero and soldier in the Spanish Army. Peralta received Rancho San Antonio, one of the largest of the rancho grants in California, covering ...
for his Rancho San Antonio. The grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons. Most of Oakland was within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called ''Encinar'' (misrendered at an early date and carried forward as "encinal") —Spanish for "oak grove"—due to the large oak forest that covered the area, which eventually led to the city's name. According to
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
historian Albert Camarillo, the Peralta family struggled to keep their land after the incorporation of California into the United States after the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the ...
. Camarillo claims the family was the victim of targeted racial violence. He writes in ''Chicanos in California'', "They lost everything when squatters cut down their fruit trees, killed their cattle, destroyed their buildings, and even fenced off the roads leading to the rancho. Especially insidious were the actions of attorney
Horace Carpentier Horace Walpole Carpentier (1824–1918) was a lawyer and the first mayor of Oakland, California. He is also remembered as president of the Overland Telegraph Company and for defrauding the Peralta family, a prominent Californio family who histo ...
, who tricked Vicente Peralta into signing a 'lease' which turned out to be a mortgage against the 19,000-acre rancho. The lands became Carpentier's when Peralta refused to repay the loan he believed was fraudulently incurred. The Peraltas had no choice but to abandon the homesite they had occupied for two generations."


Development of Chinatown

During the 1850s—just as gold was discovered in California—Oakland started growing and further developing because land was becoming too expensive in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. People in China were struggling financially as a result of the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
, the
Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire#Britain's imperial ...
, and the
Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...
, so they began migrating to Oakland, many of whom were recruited to work on railroads. However, the Chinese struggled to settle because they were discriminated against by the white community and their living quarters were burned down on several occasions.


City beginnings

In 1851, three men—
Horace Carpentier Horace Walpole Carpentier (1824–1918) was a lawyer and the first mayor of Oakland, California. He is also remembered as president of the Overland Telegraph Company and for defrauding the Peralta family, a prominent Californio family who histo ...
, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland. In 1852, the Town of Oakland was incorporated by the state legislature. During this time, Oakland had 75–100 inhabitants, two hotels, a wharf, two warehouses, and only cattle trails. Two years later, on March 25, 1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland. Horace Carpentier was elected the first mayor, though a scandal ended his mayorship in less than a year. The city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the
Oakland Long Wharf The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Railr ...
at Oakland Point, the site of today's Port of Oakland. A number of
horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, and other lines were converted and added over the course of the 1890s. The various streetcar companies operating in Oakland were acquired by Francis "Borax" Smith and consolidated into what eventually became known as the
Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, California, Oakland, Berkeley, California, Berkeley, Alameda, California, Alameda, Emeryville, California, Emeryville, Piedmont, Ca ...
, the predecessor of today's publicly owned
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" r ...
.


1900–1950s


Plague epidemic

Oakland was one of the worst affected cities in California that was impacted by the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904.
Quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
measures were set in place at the Oakland ports requiring the authorities at the port to inspect the arriving vessels for the presence of infected rats. Quarantine authorities at these ports inspected over a thousand vessels per year for plague and yellow fever. By 1908, over 5,000 people were detained in quarantine. Hunters were sent to poison the affected areas in Oakland and shoot the squirrels, but the eradication work was limited in its range because the State Board of Health and the
United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant ...
were only allotted about $60,000 a year to eradicate the disease. During this period Oakland did not have sufficient health facilities, so some of the infected patients were treated at home. The State Board of Health along with Oakland also advised physicians to promptly report any cases of infected patients. Yet, in 1919 it still resulted in a small epidemic of
Pneumonic plague Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. Symptoms include fever, headache, shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. They typically start about three to seven days after exposure. It is one ...
which killed a dozen people in Oakland. This started when a man went hunting in Contra Costa Valley and killed a squirrel. After eating the squirrel, he fell ill four days later and another household member contracted the plague. This in turn was passed on either directly or indirectly to about a dozen others. The officials in Oakland acted quickly by issuing death certificates to monitor the spread of plague.


Incorporation

At the time of incorporation in 1852, Oakland had consisted of the territory that lay south of today's major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north. Oakland's rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the nearby town of
Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...
being made an island. In 1906, the city's population doubled with refugees made homeless after the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity ...
and fire. In 1908 lawyer, former miner and newspaper owner Homer Wood (1880–1976) suggested to his friend Frank Bilger of Blake and Bilger Rock Quarry and Paving Company that he organize a gathering to establish a
Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
east of the bay. On November 27, 1908, Homer took a ferry across the bay in a driving rainstorm and met for lunch with Frank and twenty three other businessmen at the Hotel Metropole at 13th and Jefferson. This gathering became the first meeting of the Tri-City Rotary Club, renamed in 1911 The Rotary Club of Oakland, the third Rotary Club in the world. This group established the tradition of weekly meetings, something most clubs worldwide follow today. In 1917,
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
opened an automobile factory in
East Oakland East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest porti ...
called
Oakland Assembly Oakland Assembly was a former Chevrolet manufacturing facility located in Elmhurst, Oakland, California. It was the first automobile plant established in Northern California to build Chevrolet vehicles. In 1916, Chevrolet opened the auto industr ...
. It produced
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...
cars and then GMC trucks until 1963, when it was moved to Fremont in southern Alameda County. Also in 1916, the Fageol Motor Company chose East Oakland for their first factory, manufacturing farming tractors from 1918 to 1923. By 1920, Oakland was the home of numerous manufacturing industries, including
metals A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typical ...
, canneries, bakeries,
internal combustion engines An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
, automobiles, and shipbuilding. By 1929, when
Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...
expanded with a new plant there, Oakland had become known as the "
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
of the West," referring to the major auto manufacturing center in Michigan. Oakland expanded during the 1920s, as its population expanded with factory workers. Approximately 13,000 homes were built in the 3 years between 1921 and 1924, more than during the 13 years between 1907 and 1920. Many of the large downtown office buildings, apartment buildings, and single-family houses still standing in Oakland were built during the 1920s; they reflect the architectural styles of the time. Russell Clifford Durant established Durant Field at 82nd Avenue and East 14th Street in 1916. The first transcontinental airmail flight finished its journey at Durant Field on August 9, 1920, flown by Army Capt.
Eddie Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Lt.
Bert Acosta Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (January 1, 1895 – September 1, 1954) was a record-setting aviator and test pilot. He and Clarence D. Chamberlin set an endurance record of 51 hours, 11 minutes, and 25 seconds in the air. He later flew in the Span ...
. Durant Field was often called Oakland Airport, though the current
Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...
was soon established to the southwest. During World War II, the East Bay Area was home to many war-related industries. Oakland's
Moore Dry Dock Company Moore Dry Dock Company was a ship repair and shipbuilding company in Oakland, California. In 1905, Robert S. Moore, his brother Joseph A. Moore, and John Thomas Scott purchased the National Iron Works located in the Hunter's Point section o ...
expanded its shipbuilding capabilities and built over 100 ships. Valued at $100 million in 1943, Oakland's canning industry was its second-most-valuable war contribution after shipbuilding. The largest canneries were in the Fruitvale District, and included the Josiah Lusk Canning Company, the Oakland Preserving Company (which started the Del Monte brand), and the California Packing Company. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called on defense industries with government contracts to integrate their workforces and provide opportunities for all Americans. Tens of thousands of laborers came from around the country, especially poor whites and blacks from the Deep South: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, as well as Missouri and Tennessee. Henry J. Kaiser's representatives recruited
sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
and
tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person ( farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management ...
from rural areas to work in his shipyards. African Americans were part of the Great Migration by which five million persons left the South, mostly for the West, from 1940 to 1970. White migrants from the
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...
South carried their racial attitudes, causing tensions to rise among black and white workers competing for the better-paying jobs in the Bay Area. The racial harmony Oakland African-Americans had been accustomed to prior to the war evaporated. Also migrating to the area during this time were many
Mexican Americans Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
from southwestern states such as
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, and
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
. Many worked for the
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, at its major rail yard in West Oakland. Their young men encountered hostility and discrimination by Armed Forces personnel, and tensions broke out in " zoot suit riots" in downtown Oakland in 1943 in the wake of a major disturbance in Los Angeles that year. In 1946,
National City Lines National City Lines, Inc. (NCL) was a public transportation company. The company grew out of the Fitzgerald brothers' bus operations, founded in Minnesota, United States in 1920 as a modest local transport company operating two buses. Part of the ...
(NCL), a General Motors
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
, acquired 64% of
Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, California, Oakland, Berkeley, California, Berkeley, Alameda, California, Alameda, Emeryville, California, Emeryville, Piedmont, Ca ...
stock; during the next several years NCL engaged in the conspiratorial dissolution of Oakland's electric
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
system. The city's expensive electric streetcar fleet was converted to the cheaper diesel buses.UNITED STATES, v. NATIONAL CITY LINES, Inc., et al.—186 F.2d 562—AltLaw
The state Legislature created the Alameda and Contra Costa Transit District in 1955, which operates today as
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" r ...
, the third-largest bus-only transit system in the nation. Soon after the war, as Oakland's shipbuilding industry declined and the automobile industry went through restructuring, many jobs were lost. Economic competition increased racial tension. In addition, labor unrest increased as workers struggled to protect their livelihoods. Oakland was the center of a
general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...
during the first week of December 1946, one of six cities across the country that had such a strike after World War II.


1960–1999

In 1960, Kaiser Corporation opened its new headquarters; it was the largest skyscraper in Oakland, as well as "the largest office tower west of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
" up to that time. In the postwar period, suburban development increased around Oakland, and wealthier residents moved to new housing. Despite the major increases in the number and proportion of African Americans in the city, in 1966 only 16 of the city's 661 police officers were black. Tensions between the black community and the largely white police force were high, as expectations during the civil rights era increased to gain social justice and equality before the law. Police abuse of blacks was common.''Inside the Panther Revolution'', Robyn Cean Spencer, Chapter 13, p. 302 Students
Huey Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African-American revolutionary, notable as founder of the Black Panther Party. Newton crafted the Party's ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale in 1966. Under Newton's leadership ...
and
Bobby Seale Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", ...
founded the
Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...
at
Merritt College Merritt College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The college ...
(then located at a former high school on Grove Street, now occupied by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute), which emphasized
Black nationalism Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...
, advocated armed self-defense against police, and was involved in several incidents that ended in the deaths of police officers and other Black Panther members. Among their social programs were feeding children and providing other services to the needy. During the 1970s, Oakland began to suffer serious violence and other problems related to gang-controlled dealing of heroin and cocaine when drug kingpin
Felix Mitchell Felix Wayne Mitchell Jr. (August 23, 1954 – August 21, 1986) was a drug lord from Oakland, California, and leader of the "69 Mob" criminal organization, which operated throughout California and into the Midwest. He was known as "Felix the Cat" ...
created the nation's first large-scale operation of this kind. Both violent crime and property crime increased during this period, and Oakland's murder rate rose to over twice that of San Francisco and New York. As in many other American cities during the 1980s,
crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...
became a serious problem in Oakland. Drug dealing in general, and the dealing of crack cocaine in particular, resulted in elevated rates of violent crime, causing Oakland to consistently be listed as one of America's most crime-ridden cities. In 1980 Oakland's black population reached its 20th-century peak at approximately 47% of the overall city population. The 6.9
Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
occurred on October 17, 1989. The rupture was related to the San Andreas fault system and affected the entire San Francisco Bay Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). Many structures in Oakland were badly damaged including the double-decker portion of Interstate 880 that collapsed. The eastern span of the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...
also sustained damage and was closed to traffic for one month. On October 20, 1991, a massive
firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...
swept down from the Berkeley/Oakland hills above the Caldecott Tunnel. Twenty-five people were killed, 150 people were injured, and nearly 4,000 homes destroyed. With the loss of life and an estimated economic loss of 1.5 billion, this was the worst urban firestorm in American history, until 2017.''Catastrophe: The 100 Greatest Disasters of All Time'', Stephen J. Spignesi, Citadel, 2004, pp 292–94 During the mid-1990s, Oakland's economy began to recover as it transitioned to new types of jobs. In addition, the city participated in large development and urban renewal projects, concentrated especially in the downtown area, at the Port of Oakland, and at the
Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...
.


2000s

After his 1999 inauguration, Oakland Mayor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...
continued his predecessor Elihu Harris' public policy of supporting downtown housing development in the area defined as the Central Business District in Oakland's 1998 General Plan. Brown's plan and other redevelopment projects were controversial due to potential rent increases and
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
, which would displace lower-income residents from downtown Oakland into outlying neighborhoods and cities. Due to allegations of misconduct by the Oakland Police Department, the City of Oakland has paid claims for a total of 57 million during the 2001–2011 timeframe to plaintiffs claiming police abuse; this is the largest sum paid by any city in California. On October 10, 2011, protesters and civic activists began " Occupy Oakland" demonstrations at
Frank Ogawa Frank Hirao Ogawa (May 17, 1917 – July 13, 1994) was a civil rights leader and the first Japanese American to serve on the Oakland City Council, of which he was a member from 1966 until his death in 1994. Early life A Nisei, Ogawa wa ...
Plaza in
Downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lak ...
."Wall Street protesters: We're in for the long haul"
, ''Bloomberg Businessweek''. Accessed: October 3, 2011.
African-Americans dropped to 28% of Oakland's population in 2010, from nearly half in 1980, due to fast-rising rents and an extreme housing crisis in the region. The city inspected many warehouses and live/work spaces after a fire broke out in the Ghost Ship warehouse, killing 36 people in 2016. Oakland is the second U.S. city, after
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. In June 2019, the City Council passed the resolution in a unanimous vote ending the investigation and imposition of criminal penalties for use and possession of natural entheogens. In November 2019, two homeless mothers and their children moved into a vacant three-bedroom house in West Oakland. The group, calling themselves
Moms 4 Housing Moms 4 Housing is a housing activist group in Oakland, California. It was formed and received national attention after three formerly homeless Black women moved their families into a vacant three-bedroom house as squatters without permission from t ...
, said their goal was to protest what they said was a large number of vacant houses in Oakland owned by redevelopment companies while the city experienced a housing crisis. Two months later they were evicted from the house by three dozen sheriff's deputies, as hundreds of supporters demonstrated in favor of the women. The incident received nationwide coverage. The company that owns the house later said they would sell it to a nonprofit affordable housing group. As of 2019, Oakland's per-capita homeless rate is higher than San Francisco and Berkeley. Between 2014 and 2020, Oakland strengthened its protections for tenants in order to reduce the displacement of its long-time residents.


Geography

Oakland is in the eastern region of the
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...
. In 1991, the City Hall tower was at (NAD83). (The building still exists, but like the rest of the Bay Area, it has shifted northwest perhaps 0.6 meters in the last twenty years.) The
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
says the city's total area is , including of land and (28.48 percent) of water. Oakland's highest point is near Grizzly Peak Blvd, east of Berkeley, just over
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
at about . Oakland has of shoreline, but
Radio Beach The Radio Beach Shoreline is the only beach in Oakland, California. On the San Francisco Bay, it borders the onramp to the Bay Bridge, leading into San Francisco. Its name refers to the radio towers on the beach. The beach is also known as 'Toll ...
is the only beach in Oakland. Oaklanders refer to their city's terrain as "the flatlands" and "the hills". Until recent waves of gentrification, these terms also symbolized Oakland's deep economic divide, with "the hills" being more affluent communities. About two-thirds of Oakland lies in the flat plain of the East Bay, with one-third rising into the foothills and hills of the East Bay range. Ruptures along the nearby
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...
caused severe earth movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1906 and 1989. San Andreas quakes induces
creep Creep, Creeps or CREEP may refer to: People * Creep, a creepy person Politics * Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), mockingly abbreviated as CREEP, an fundraising organization for Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign Art ...
(movement occurring on earthquake faults) in the Hayward fault, which runs directly through Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and other Bay Area cities.


Neighborhoods

Oakland has more than 50 distinct neighborhoods. The city's greater divisions include downtown Oakland and its greater
Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
, Lake Merritt,
East Oakland East Oakland is a geographical region of Oakland, California, United States, that stretches between Lake Merritt in the northwest and San Leandro in the southeast. As the southeastern portion of the city, East Oakland takes up the largest porti ...
, North Oakland, West Oakland, and the
Oakland Hills Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...
. East Oakland, which includes the East Oakland Hills, encompasses more than half of Oakland's land area, stretching from Lakeshore Avenue on the east shore of Lake Merritt southeast to the San Leandro border. North Oakland encompasses the neighborhoods between downtown and Berkeley and Emeryville. West Oakland is the area between downtown and the Bay, partially surrounded by the
Oakland Point Oakland Point, or Gibbons' Point, was a small promontory formerly on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in West Oakland, California. It was located in the vicinity of what is now the Port of Oakland shipping terminal. History Oakland Poin ...
, and encompassing the Port of Oakland. In 2011, Oakland was ranked the tenth most walkable city in the United States by Walk Score. Lake Merritt, an urban estuary near downtown, is a mix of fresh and salt water draining in and out from the Oakland Harbor at the San Francisco Bay and one of Oakland's most notable features. It was designated the United States' first official wildlife refuge in 1870. Originally a marsh-lined wildlife haven, Lake Merritt was dredged and bordered with parks from the 1890s to the 1910s. Despite this reduction in habitat, Oakland is home to a number of rare and endangered species, many of which are localized to
serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...
s and bedrock. Lake Merritt is surrounded by residential and business districts, including
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
and Grand Lake. The city of
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, incorporated in Oakland's central foothills after the 1906 earthquake, is a small independent city surrounded by the city of Oakland.


Climate

Oakland has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
( Köppen ''Csb'') with an average of 260 sunny days per year. In general, the city features warm, dry summers, and cool, wet winters. Based on data gathered by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...
, Oakland is ranked No. 1 in climate among U.S. cities. Oakland's climate is typified by the temperate and seasonal Mediterranean climate. Summers are usually dry and warm and winters are cool and damp. It has features found in both nearby coastal cities such as San Francisco and inland cities such as San Jose, making it warmer than San Francisco and cooler than San Jose. Its position on San Francisco Bay across from the Bay Bridge means the northern part of the city can have cooling maritime fog. It is far enough inland that the fog often burns off by midday, allowing it to have typically sunny California days. The hills tend to have more fog than the flatlands, as the fog drifts down from Berkeley. The
U.S. Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
kept weather records in downtown Oakland from October 4, 1894, to July 31, 1958. During that time, the record high temperature was on June 24, 1957, and the record low temperature was on January 23, 1949. Dry, warm offshore "Diablo" winds (similar to the
Santa Ana winds The Santa Ana winds (sometimes devil winds) "Scholars who have looked into the name's origins generally agree that it derives from Santa Ana Canyon, the portal where the Santa Ana River -- as well as a congested Riverside (CA-91) Freeway -- leav ...
of Southern California) sometimes occur, especially in fall, and raise the fire danger. In 1991, such an episode allowed the catastrophic Oakland Hills fire to spread and consume many homes. Oakland, like much of Northern California, is susceptible to winter rainstorms and Atmospheric rivers. The wettest calendar year was 1983 with and the driest year was 2013 with . The most rainfall in one month was in January 1911. The most rainfall in 24 hours was on January 26, 2008. Rainfall near the bayfront is only , but is higher in the Oakland Hills to the east (up to ), with nearly all precipitation falling between November and April. Overnight lows are mild. Oakland seldom experiences warm nights with the warmest recorded night of in September 1971 and an average of for the annual warmest low. The coldest day of the year averages a mild and has never been recorded below . The
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
today has two official weather stations in Oakland:
Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...
and the
Oakland Museum The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cal ...
(established 1970).


Vegetation

The higher rainfall in the hills supports woods of oak, madrona, pine, fir and a few redwood groves in the wetter areas. Before being logged in the 19th century, some of the tallest redwood trees in California (used for navigation by ships entering the Golden Gate) may have stood in the Oakland Hills. One old stump in diameter can be seen near Redwood Regional Park. Sunny, drier slopes are grassy or covered in scattered oaks and chaparral brush. Australian eucalyptus trees have been extensively planted in many areas, as they come from a similar climate.


Demographics

The
2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
reported Oakland had a population of 440,646. The population density was .


Race and ethnicity

The
2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
reported that the racial makeup of Oakland was 156,429 (35.5%)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 104,873 (23.8%) Black or African American, 68,300 (15.5%) Asian, 2,643 (0.6%)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 3,965 (0.9%) Native American, and 30,404 (6.9%) multiracial (two or more races). There were 118,974 (27.0%) of
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino ancestry, of any race. From the
2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
the racial makeup of Oakland was 134,925 (34.5%)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
(non-Hispanic White 25.9%), 129,471 (28.0%)
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 3,040 (0.8%) Native American, 65,811 (16.8%) Asian (8.7% Chinese, 2.2% Vietnamese, 1.6% Filipino, 0.7% Cambodian, 0.7% Laotian, 0.6%
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
, 0.5% Japanese, 0.5%
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
, 0.1% Mongolian), 2,222 (0.6%)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
(0.3% Tongan), 53,378 (13.7%) from other races, and 21,877 (5.6%) from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 99,068 persons (25.4%). 18.1% of the population were of
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
descent, 1.9% Salvadoran, 1.3% Guatemalan, and 0.7% Puerto Rican.


2019 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates

According to 2019 US Census Bureau estimates, Oakland's population rose to 433,044, and was 34.5%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
(29.3%
Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Am ...
and 5.2%
Hispanic White In the United States, a white Hispanic or Latino is an individual who is of full or partial Hispanic or Latino descent, the largest group being white Mexican Americans. Although not differentiated in the U.S. Census definition, White Latino Am ...
), 24.9% Black or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.3% Native American and
Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...
, 14.3% Asian, 0.4%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 18.3% Other Race, and 6.3% from
two or more races 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
. White Americans are the largest racial/ethnic group at either 34.5% (including
White Hispanics In the United States, a white Hispanic or Latino is an individual who is of full or partial Hispanic or Latino descent, the largest group being white Mexican Americans. Although not differentiated in the U.S. Census definition, White Latino Am ...
) or 29.3% (excluding White Hispanics). Hispanics have been the second largest ethnic group since 2012 when they displaced the Black population. However, Black Americans still form the second largest racial group. By ethnicity, 26.8% of the total population is Hispanic-Latino (of any race) and 73.2% is Non-Hispanic (of any race). The majority of Hispanics self-identify as Some Other Race (66.9%) with the remainder choosing White (19.4%), Multiracial (7.4%), Black (2.0%), American Indian and Alaskan Native (3.5%), Asian (0.7%), and Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (0.1%). The Black population is the third largest ethnic group and second largest racial group at either 24.9% (including Black Hispanics) or 24.4% excluding Black Hispanics. The Asian population continues to remain the fourth largest group at 14.3% of the population.


Educational attainment and income

The greater Oakland area has the fifth largest cluster of "elite zip codes" ranked by the number of households with the highest combination of income and education. 37.9% of residents over 25 years of age have bachelor's degree or higher. Oakland ranked among the top cities with residents with bachelor's degrees and graduate degrees per square mile. Oakland ranks in the top 20 of American cities in median household income, with a 2012 value of 51,863. In 2012, the median income for a household in the city was 51,863 and the median income for a family was 59,459. The mean income for a household was 77,888 and the mean income for a family was 90,948. Males had a median income of 50,140 versus 50,304 for females. The unemployment rate as of December 2013 was 9.7%. In 2007 approximately 15.3 percent of families and 17.0 percent of the general population were below the poverty line, including 27.9 percent of those under age 18 and 13.1 percent of those age 65 or over. 0.7% of the population is homeless.Designing a Socially Just Downtown
, NHI, by Alex Salazar, Spring 2006, retrieved August 12, 2007
Home ownership is 41% and 14% of rental units are subsidized. As of the census of 2000, 19.4% of the population and 16.2% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 27.9% of those under the age of 18 and 13.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


Households

The census reported 382,586 people (97.9% of the population) lived in households, 5,675 (1.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 2,463 (0.6%) were institutionalized. There were 153,791 households, out of which 44,762 (29.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 50,797 (33.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 24,122 (15.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 8,799 (5.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 11,289 (7.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 3,442 (2.2%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 52,103 households (33.9%) were made up of individuals, and 13,778 (9.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49. There were 83,718 families (54.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.27. The population was spread out, with 83,120 people (21.3%) under the age of 18, 36,272 people (9.3%) aged 18 to 24, 129,139 people (33.1%) aged 25 to 44, 98,634 people (25.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 43,559 people (11.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.8 males. There were 169,710 housing units at an average density of , of which 153,791 were occupied, of which 63,142 (41.1%) were owner-occupied, and 90,649 (58.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.5%. 166,662 people (42.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 215,924 people (55.3%) lived in rental housing units.


Shifting of cultures

Oakland has consistently ranked as one of the most ethnically diverse major cities in the country. A 2019 analysis by WalletHub showed that Oakland was the most ethnoracially diverse city in the United States. The city's formerly most populous ethnic group, whites, declined from 95.3% in 1940 to 32.5% by 1990, due to a combination of factors, including suburbanization. Oakland became a destination for African Americans in the Great Migration during and after World War II as they gained high-paying jobs in the defense industry. Blacks have formed a plurality in Oakland for many years, peaking in 1980 at about 47% of the population. Oakland's black population decreased by nearly 25 percent between 2000 and 2010. The city's demographics have changed due to a combination of rising housing prices associated with
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
and with blacks relocating to better (and in many cases more affordable) housing in Bay Area suburbs or moving to the
Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
in a reverse migration, where conditions (including race relations) are considered to have improved in comparison to previous generations. These trends and cultural shifts have led to a decline among some of Oakland's long standing black institutions, such as churches, businesses and nightclubs, which had developed during the growing years of the 1950s through 1970. In the 2010 census African Americans maintained their status as Oakland's single largest ethnic group, with 27% of the population, followed by non-Hispanic
whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
at 25.9%, and Hispanics of any race at 25.4%. Ethnic Asians constitute 17%, followed by smaller minority groups. Many immigrants have settled in the city. Immigrants and others have marched by the thousands down Oakland's International Boulevard in support of legal reforms benefiting undocumented immigrants. An analysis by the Urban Institute of U.S. Census 2000 numbers showed Oakland had the third-highest concentration of
gays and lesbians Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures are subcultures and communities composed of people who have shared experiences, backgrounds, or interests due to common sexual or gender identities. Among the first to argue that members of sexual m ...
among the 50 largest U.S. cities, behind San Francisco and Seattle. Census data showed that among incorporated places that have at least 500 female couples, Oakland had the nation's largest proportion. In the 2000 census, 2,650 lesbian couples identified as such in Oakland; one in every 41 Oakland couples identified as a same-sex female partnership.


Gentrification

As of 2020, the San Francisco-Oakland Metro shows indications of having the greatest intensity of gentrification nationally, with over 31% of eligible neighborhoods gentrifying. Gentrifying neighborhoods showed significant increases in median home value, median household income, percentage of college educated residents, but also in economic inequality. Historically low-income neighborhoods have been rapidly changed by new, higher-income residents as high-wage tech workers and expensive housing have continued to push lower-wage residents out of Oakland. In West Oakland, for example, median household income rose from $80,700 to $86,300 between 2010 and 2017, while the percent of population with four-year degrees rose from one-third to nearly one-half, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Big tech companies have continued to transform the communities and culture of Oakland as modern apartments have appeared, housing prices have spiked, and many prior working-class residents have moved to suburbs further inland. According to 2015 data compiled by the Bay Area Equity Atlas, 91% of low-income households of color were either in neighborhoods that were gentrifying or were at risk of gentrification at the time. The number was higher for individual low-income communities, with 96% of Native American households in neighborhoods that either experienced gentrification or were at risk of being gentrified, followed by Latino households at 94%, Black households at 92%, and Asian or Pacific Islander households at 88%.


Crime

A 2014 study by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy at the
University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...
examined crime in the city from 1987 to 2012 and concluded that "The story of crime in Oakland over the last 25 years is a nuanced one, as there are both positive and negative aspects of the crime trends."Bobby McCarthy & Sarah Lawrence
Crime Trends in the City of Oakland: A 25-Year Look (1987–2012).
Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Crime dramatically decreased since the early 1990s but the city has continued to suffer from serious
violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objecti ...
problems. Crime trends generally tracked comparison cities of
Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
,
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...
,
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, and Stockton "in terms of direction if not magnitude"; this suggested that crime trends are regional rather than city-specific. A 2007 journal article identified crime in Oakland as being fueled by the dramatic increase of street narcotics sales and use since the 1970s, with Oakland becoming a major west-coast hub for heroin and cocaine distribution. Subsequent battle for control over the lucrative narcotics trade incited gang conflicts and violence, with shootings becoming a regular occurrence. A concurrent rise in rape, robbery, burglary, auto-theft and other crimes occurred as well. Prior to 1960, there had been successful government-funded social programs whereby rebellious teens were enrolled in youth centers that would teach them proper values and improve their behavior. However, similar programs since then have been inconsistent. By the 1970s, the police and
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...
(FBI) used
military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, Mobility (military), mobil ...
such as SWAT teams, infiltration and counter intelligence in an attempt to counter groups such as the Black Panthers (responsible for several police ambushes), the S.L.A. and organized drug gangs such as the "69 Mob", with increases in arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonment. During the first decade of the 21st century, Oakland has consistently been listed as one of the most dangerous large cities in the United States. The number of Oakland Police Department officers has varied from a low of 626 (in 1996 and in 2012) to a high of 814 (in 2002). There were 723 officers at the end of 2015. The city's strategic plan recommended 925 officers, and an independent study commissioned by the city in the mid-1990s recommended 1,200 officers. Among Oakland's 35 police patrol beats, violent crime remains a serious problem in specific East and West Oakland neighborhoods. In 2008, homicides were concentrated: 72% occurred in three City Council districts, District 3 in West Oakland and Districts 6 and 7 in East Oakland, although these districts have 44% of Oakland's residents. In 2012, Oakland implemented
Operation Ceasefire Operation Ceasefire (also known as the Boston Gun Project and the Boston Miracle) is a problem-oriented policing initiative implemented in 1996 in Boston, Massachusetts. The program was specifically aimed at youth gun violence as a large-scale probl ...
, a gang violence reduction plan used in other cities, based in part on the research and strategies of author David M. Kennedy.


Economy

Oakland is a major West Coast port, and the fifth busiest in the United States by cargo volume. The Port of Oakland handles 99% of all containerized goods moving through Northern California, representing $41 billion worth of international trade. There are nearly 200,000 jobs related to marine cargo transport in the Oakland area. These jobs range from minimum wage hourly positions to Transportation Storage and Distribution Managers who earn an annual average salary of 91,520. The Port of Oakland was an early innovator/pioneer in the technologies of Intermodal Containerized Shipping. The city is also home to several major corporations including
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Per ...
,
Clorox The Clorox Company (formerly Clorox Chemical Company) is an American global manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. As of 2020 the Oakland, California based company had approximately 8,800 employees worldwide. Net sales ...
, and
Dreyer's Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. ("Dreyer's"), is an American ice cream company, founded in 1928 in Oakland, California, where its present-day headquarters office remains. The company's two signature brands, ''Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream'' and ''Edy ...
ice cream. Tech companies such as Ask.com and Pandora Radio are in Oakland, and in recent years many start-up high tech and green energy companies have found a home in the downtown neighborhoods of Uptown, City Center, Jack London Square and Lake Merritt Financial District. , the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metropolitan area has a
gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...
(GDP) of 360.4 billion, ranking eighth among metropolitan areas in the United States. In 2014, Oakland was amongst the best cities to start a career, the highest ranked city in California after San Francisco. Additionally, Oakland ranked fourth in cities with professional opportunities. Numerous companies in San Francisco continue to expand in or migrate over to Oakland. Oakland experienced an increase of both its population and of land values in the early-to-mid first decade of the 21st century. The 10k Plan, which began during former mayor
Elihu Harris Elihu Mason Harris (born August 15, 1947) is a retired American politician and college administrator. A member of the Democratic Party, Harris served as the 46th Mayor of Oakland, California from 1991 to 1999; he previously served for 12 years ...
' administration, and intensified during former mayor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...
's administration resulted in several thousand units of new multi-family housing and development.


Top employers

, the top employers in the city were:


Tourism

In 2013, over 2.5 million people visited Oakland, injecting 1.3 billion into the economy. Oakland has been experiencing an increase in hotel demand. Occupancy is 74%, while RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) increased by 14%, the highest increase of any big city in the western region of the United States. Both Oakland and San Francisco were forecasted to experience the highest increases in ADR (
Average daily rate Average Daily Rate (commonly referred to as ADR) is a statistical unit that is often used in the lodging industry. The number represents the average rental income per paid occupied room in a given time period. ADR along with the property's occupancy ...
). In recent years, Oakland has gained national recognition as a travel destination. In 2012, Oakland was named the top North American city to visit, highlighting its growing number of sophisticated restaurants and bars, top music venues, and increasing nightlife appeal. Oakland also took the No. 16 spot in "America's Coolest Cities", ranked by metrics like entertainment options and recreational opportunities per capita, etc. In 2013, Oakland topped the No. 1 spot in "America's Most Exciting Cities", notably having the most movie theaters, theater companies, and museums per square mile. In "America's Most Hipster Cities", Oakland took the number-5 spot, cited for luring San Francisco "hippies" into the city. Oakland has also increased its travel destination allure internationally.


Arts and culture

Oakland has a vibrant art scene and claims the highest concentration of artists per capita in the United States. In 2013, Oakland was designated as one of America's top twelve art communities, recognizing Downtown (including Uptown), Chinatown, Old Oakland, and Jack London Square as communities "that have most successfully combined art, artists and venues for creativity and expression with independent businesses, retail shops and restaurants, and a walkable lifestyle to make vibrant neighborhoods." Galleries exist in various parts of Oakland, with the newest additions centered mostly in the
Uptown Uptown may refer to: Neighborhoods or regions in several cities United States * Uptown, entertainment district east of Downtown and Midtown Albuquerque, New Mexico * Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina * Uptown, area surrounding the University of Ci ...
area. Oakland ranked 11th in cities for designers and artists. The city is a renowned culinary hotbed, offering both a wide variety and innovative approaches to diverse cuisines in restaurants and markets, often featuring locally grown produce and international styles such as
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, Portuguese/
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
, Asian,
Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
, as well as
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
,
Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
/
Louisiana Creole Louisiana Creole ( lou, Kréyòl Lalwizyàn, links=no) is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the state of Louisiana. It is spoken today by people who may racially identify as White, Black, mixed, and N ...
, etc., all of which reflects the culinary traditions of the city's ethnically diverse population. Historically a focal point of the West Coast
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...
and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
scenes, Oakland is also home to musicians representing such genres as
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
,
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
, punk, heavy metal, Rap/
Gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...
, and hip hop. Artists who come out of Oakland are: Mistah F.A.B, E-40, Too Short, Raphael Saadiq, MC Hammer, Keyshia Cole, Kehlani, Del the Funky Homosapien, Edwin Hawkins, Tony! Toni! Toné! and many more.


Attractions

Free walking tours ar
offered by the City.


Nightlife

Downtown Oakland has an assortment of bars and nightclubs. They include dive bars, dance clubs, modern lounges and jazz bars. The Paramount Theater features headlining musical tours and productions, while Fox Oakland Theatre draws various musical genres including
jam bands A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often c ...
, rock, punk, blues, jazz, and reggae. The Paramount and Fox theaters often book simultaneous events, creating busy nights uptown. In 2012, Oakland was dubbed a "New Sin City", following its 2010 decision to relax its cabaret laws, which gave a boost to its nightclub and bar scene. Recent years have seen the growth of the Oakland Art Murmur event, occurring in the Uptown neighborhood the first Friday evening of every month. The event attracts around 20,000 people along twenty city blocks, featuring live performances, food trucks, and over 30 galleries and venues.


"There is no there there"

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
wrote about Oakland in her 1937 book ''
Everybody's Autobiography ''Everybody's Autobiography'' is a book by Gertrude Stein, published in 1937. It is a continuation of her own memoirs, picking up where '' The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas'', published in 1933, left off. Both were written in a less experimen ...
'' "There is no there there", upon learning that the neighborhood where she lived as a child had been torn down to make way for an
industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...
. The quote is usually misconstrued to refer to Oakland as a whole. Modern-day Oakland has made steps to rebuke Stein's claim with a statue downtown titled ''There''. In 2005 a sculpture called ''HERETHERE'' was installed by the City of Berkeley on the Berkeley-Oakland border at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The sculpture consists of eight-foot-tall letters spelling "HERE" and "THERE" in front of the
BART Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
tracks as they descend from their elevated section in Oakland to the subway through Berkeley.


Sports

Oakland has variously been represented by major professional teams in baseball, soccer, American football, basketball and hockey. The
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...
(of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...
) won three consecutive
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...
championships in 1972, 1973, and 1974, and appeared in another three consecutive World Series from 1988 to 1990, winning their fourth championship in 1989. Currently based at the
Oakland Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home b ...
, the Athletics announced plans to build a new ballpark closer to the downtown area, but plans have not been finalized. The
Oakland Roots SC Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. The club was formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, and began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in the fall of 2019. In 2021, ...
are a soccer team that was formed in 2018. The Roots began play in 2019 in a new third division professional league called National Independent Soccer Association, however, the team announced that it would move to the second division and play in the
USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...
from the 2021 season onwards. Oakland's former football team, the
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
(NFL), won
Super Bowl XI Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for i ...
in 1976 and Super Bowl XV in 1980, during their tenure in Oakland. The Raiders relocated to Las Vegas in 2020 and are now known as the
Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...
. Oakland's former basketball team, the
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
won the 1974–75, 2014–15, 2016–17, and the 2017–18 NBA championships, while losing in 2016 and 2019. The Warriors, whose primary owners reside in Southern California, announced in April 2014 that they would leave Oakland once their new arena was built across the Bay in San Francisco. In 2019, the Warriors built and moved to
Chase Center Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and occasionally for the University of San ...
across the Bay. Since the team remained in the Bay Area, they decided not to revert to the San Francisco Warriors name it had in its first stint with the city. Oakland's
ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) * ''Ultimate'' (Pet Shop Boys album) *'' Ultimate!'', an album by The Yardbirds *'' The Ultimate (Bryan Adams Album)'', a compilat ...
team,
Oakland Spiders The Oakland Spiders are a professional ultimate team based in Oakland, California. The Spiders are members of the West Division of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). The team was founded as the San Jose Spiders in 2014 when the league exp ...
, relocated to Oakland in 2022 after playing eight years as the San Jose Spiders. Oakland's former sports teams include: *
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...
,
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
, 1960–1981, 1995–2019. (played at the
Oakland Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home b ...
before relocating to
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
in .) *
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
,
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
, 1971–2019. (played in
Oakland Arena Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed T ...
before moving back to San Francisco for the season.) *
Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...
,
Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...
of Baseball, 1903–1955. (The Oaks played at
Oaks Park Oak Park or Oaks Park is the name of several places, including: Australia *Oak Park, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne Ireland * Oak Park, County Carlow, a country estate turned park United States *Oak Park, California (Ventura County) an unincorpo ...
in Emeryville after 1912.) *
Oakland Larks The Oakland Larks were a Negro league baseball team in the West Coast Negro Baseball League, based in Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, O ...
,
West Coast Negro Baseball League The West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The WCNBA was organized as a minor league in 1946 by Abe Saperstein and Jesse Owens as a me ...
, 1946. * Oakland Hornets, member of American Football League (1944) *
Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...
, American Basketball League, 1962. *
Oakland Oaks Oakland Oaks may refer to one of the following sport teams, listed chronologically: * Oakland Oaks (PCL), a minor league baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1955 *Oakland Oaks (ice hockey), a professional ice hockey t ...
,
American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...
, 1967–1969. *
Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...
,
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
, 1967–1976. * Oakland Clippers, National Professional Soccer League, 1967;
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...
, 1968. *
Oakland Stompers The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with a ...
,
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...
, 1978. *
Oakland Invaders The Oakland Invaders were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) from 1983 through 1985. Based in Oakland, California, they played at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The team can tra ...
,
United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
, 1983–1985. * Oakland Skates,
Roller Hockey International Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey. History League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in th ...
, 1993–1996. *
Oakland Slammers The Oakland Slammers, based in Oakland, California were members of the International Basketball League (2005-) for two seasons, and completed their second season in the league in 2006. In its first year, the Slammers finished 5–14, good for s ...
,
International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. Th ...
, 2005–2006.


Parks and recreation


Parks

Oakland has many parks and recreation centers which total . In its 2013 ParkScore ranking,
The Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
, a national land conservation organization, reported that Oakland had the 18th best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities. In 2013, Oakland ranked fourth among American cities as an urban destination for nature lovers. Some of the city's most notable parks include: * Bushrod Park *
Joaquin Miller Park Joaquin Miller Park is a large open space park in the Oakland Hills owned and operated by the city of Oakland, California. It is named after early California writer and poet Joaquin Miller, who bought the land in the 1880s, naming it "The Hights ...
*
Joseph Knowland State Arboretum and Park Joseph Knowland State Arboretum and Park is a park located in the Grass Valley neighborhood of Oakland, California. It was formerly a state park, and is now the property of the City of Oakland. The Oakland Zoo occupies the developed western lowl ...
, home of the
Oakland Zoo The Oakland Zoo is a zoo located in the Grass Valley neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. Established on June 6, 1922, it is managed by the Conservation Society of California, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the ...
* Lake Merritt *
Morcom Rose Garden The Morcom Rose Garden (formerly the Morcom Amphitheater of Roses) is located in a residential neighborhood (the Rose Garden neighborhood) in Oakland, California, near the Piedmont border. The street address is 700 Jean St., Oakland, CA 94610. In ...
best from July through October *
Mosswood Park Mosswood Park is a public park in Oakland, California, located on W MacArthur Boulevard between Webster Street and Broadway. Managed by the City of Oakland's Department of Parks and Recreation, it contains a community recreation center as well as ...
* Allendale Park * Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, headquarters of the Peralta rancho, Rancho San Antonio *
William Joseph McInnes Botanic Garden and Campus Arboretum The William Joseph McInnes Botanic Garden and Campus Arboretum is located at the corner of Seminary Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard on the campus of Mills College in Oakland, California, United States. See also * List of botanical gardens in the ...
on the
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...
campus Additionally, the following seven East Bay Regional Parks are entirely or partially in the city of Oakland: *
Anthony Chabot Regional Park Anthony Chabot Regional Park is a regional park in Oakland, Alameda County, California in the United States. It is part of the East Bay Regional Park District system, and covers in the San Leandro Hills adjacent to Oakland, San Leandro and Ca ...
*
Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve is a regional park and nature reserve in the Oakland Hills, in the eastern East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area) region of the San Francisco Bay Area of California. It is within Alameda and Contra Costa Cou ...
*
Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve is a regional park located in Oakland, California that is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system. It is located off Keller Avenue near Oak Knoll Naval Hospital and it extends to Merritt College ...
*
Redwood Regional Park Dr. Aurelia Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park (formerly known as Redwood Regional Park) is a part of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located in the hills east of Oakland. The park contains the large ...
* Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve *
Roberts Regional Recreation Area Roberts Regional Recreation Area (RRRA) is an area adjacent to Redwood Regional Park located in Alameda County next to Oakland, CA and is part of the East Bay Regional Parks (EBRPD). It is across Skyline Drive from the City of Oakland's Joaq ...
*
Temescal Regional Park Temescal Regional Recreation Area (TRRA), formerly Lake Temescal Regional Park, is a regional park in the Berkeley Hills, in northeastern Oakland, California. The TRRA encompasses , abutting SR 24, SR13, and the interchange connecting the two ...


Places of worship

Major places of worship in Oakland include –


Government

Oakland has a mayor-council government. The mayor is elected
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
for a four-year term. The
Oakland City Council The Oakland City Council is an elected governing body representing the City of Oakland, California. Since 1998, Oakland has had a mayor-council government. The mayor is elected for a four-year term. The Oakland City Council has eight council membe ...
has eight council members representing seven districts in Oakland with one member elected at-large and others from
single-member districts A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner v ...
; council members serve staggered four-year terms. The mayor appoints a city administrator, subject to the confirmation by the City Council, who is the city's chief administrative officer. Other city officers include:
city attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city att ...
(elected), city auditor (elected), and
city clerk A clerk is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a Tow ...
(appointed by city administrator). Oakland's mayor is limited to two terms. There are no term limits for the city council.
Oakland City Hall Oakland City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Oakland, California. The current building was completed in 1914, and replaced a prior building that stood on what is now Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Standing at the height of , it was the first ...
was evacuated after the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
until 80M seismic retrofit and hazard abatement work was complete in 1995. City offices had to be housed in leased space and other locations.
Jean Quan Lai Jean Quan (born October 21, 1949) is an American politician that served as the 49th mayor of Oakland, California from 2011 to 2015. She previously served as City Council member for Oakland's 4th District. Upon inauguration on January 3, 201 ...
was elected mayor in November 2010, beating
Don Perata Don Richard Perata (born April 30, 1945) is a California lobbyist
and former Rebecca Kaplan in the city's first ranked choice balloting. This new system is intended to increase voters' ability to choose preferred candidates, as they can combine ranked votes when several candidates are competing. Libby Schaaf has been mayor since January 2015 and will be termed out at the end of 2022. Oakland is also part of
Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...
, for which the Government of Alameda County is defined and authorized under the
California Constitution The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original c ...
,
California law The law of California consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law. The California Codes form the general statutory law, and most state agency regulations are available in the Calif ...
, and the Charter of the County of Alameda. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. The County government is primarily composed of the elected five-member
Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agen ...
, other elected offices including the
Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
/Coroner, the
District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...
,
Assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property) Tax assessment, or assessment, is t ...
, Auditor-Controller/County Clerk/Recorder, and Treasurer/Tax Collector, and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Administrator. In the
California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatu ...
, Oakland is in , and is split between the 15th and
18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect numb ...
Assembly districts, represented by and , respectively. In the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
, Oakland is in .


Politics

Oakland was a
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
bastion from the 1860s to the 1950s, with positions expressed by the Republican-oriented ''
Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...
'' newspaper. In the 1960s, the majority of voters began to favor liberal policies and the Democratic Party. Oakland has the second highest percentage of registered Democrats of any of the incorporated cities in Alameda County, with Berkeley coming in first. The last Republican presidential candidate to receive at least one-third of vote in Oakland was
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
in 1972. Since then, the Republican percentage of the vote has generally declined in each successive election. According to the
California Secretary of State The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeh ...
, as of February 10, 2019, Oakland has 245,111 registered voters. Of those, 159,771 (65.2%) are registered Democrats, 9,544 (3.9%) are registered Republicans, and 65,416 (26.7%) have declined to state a political party. Oakland is widely regarded as being one of the most liberal major cities in the nation. The
Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...
of Congressional District 13, which includes Oakland and Berkeley, is D+40, making it the most Democratic congressional district in California and the fourth most Democratic district in the US.


Education


Primary and secondary education

The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), which covers the city except for Sheffield Village, operates most of Oakland's public schools. Due to financial troubles and administrative failures, it was in receivership by the state of California from 2002 to 2008. , the Oakland Unified School District includes 86 division-run schools and 32 charter schools; the district also manages several adult education programs. there are 48,181 K–12 students; among division-run schools, there are 4,600 plus employees. OUSD test scores historically lag behind the rest of California, in particular due to a high proportion of English-language learners. Some individual schools have much better performance than the citywide average. , for example, over half the students at Hillcrest Elementary School in the Montclair upper hills neighborhood performed at the "advanced" level in the English portion of the test, and students at Lincoln Elementary School in the
Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...
neighborhood performed at the "advanced" level in the math portion. Oakland's three largest public high schools are Oakland High School,
Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compreh ...
, and Skyline High School. Other Oakland public high schools include
Castlemont High School Castlemont High School is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, originally known as East Oakland High School. It is part of the Oakland Unified School District. The Castlemont name was selected by a vote of the students. ...
, Fremont High School, and
McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, opera ...
, briefly known as Castlemont Community of Small Schools, Fremont Federation of High Schools, and
McClymonds Educational Complex McClymonds Educational Complex was the collective name of the two small high schools occupying the building of McClymonds High School, operated by the Oakland Unified School District from August 2005 to 2010. As of 2010, the complex has returned ...
, respectively. Among charter schools in the district, North Oakland Community Charter School (NOCCS), an elementary and middle school, is one of the few public progressive schools in the country. Other charter schools include the Oakland Military Institute,
Oakland School for the Arts Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) is a visual and performing arts charter school in Oakland, California, United States. OSA opened in 2002 with a curriculum that integrated college preparatory academics with conservatory-style arts training. A ...
,
Bay Area Technology School The Bay Area Technology School (BayTech) is a located in Oakland, California, United States. BayTech is a college prep A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The ...
,
East Bay Innovation Academy The East Bay Innovation Academy, or EBIA for short, is a public charter middle school and a high school in Oakland, California within the Oakland Unified School District. The school was founded on October 24, 2013, and opened on August 10, 2014 ...
, and
Oakland Charter Academy Oakland Charter Academy (OCA) originally Jingletown Charter School, is a charter school in Oakland, California serving middle school students. Opened in 1994, it is the first and oldest charter school in Oakland and one of the first in California.< ...
. There are several religious and secular private high schools, including The College Preparatory School, Head-Royce School,
Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named for the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, James ...
, Holy Names High School, St. Elizabeth High School and
Oakland Hebrew Day School Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...
. Catholic schools in Oakland are operated by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland The Diocese of Oakland ( la, Diœcesis Quercopolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern California. The diocese comprises Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Th ...
also include eight K–8 schools (plus one in Piedmont on the Oakland city border). Northern Light School is a private nonprofit elementary and middle school. Bentley School is an Independent Co-educational K–12, college preparatory school on two campuses in Oakland and Lafayette, California.


Funding

In 2017, the Oakland Unified School District has received funding from Pandora in partnership with Little Kids Rock, towards expanding music education programs within the schools. The result from these donations has given teachers from 20 additional Oakland- area schools the ability to participate in an eight-hour professional development workshop, and receive music education instruction from Little Kids Rock. The donation includes providing new instruments, that will benefit over 2,000 Oakland students.


Colleges and universities

Accredited colleges and universities include: * Oakland is also the home of the headquarters of the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...
system, the University of California Office of the President. In 2001, the SFSU Oakland Multimedia Center was opened, allowing
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
to conduct classes near downtown Oakland. The Oakland Higher Education Consortium and the City of Oakland's Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) opened the Oakland Higher Education Center downtown in 2002 to provide "access to multiple higher education service providers within a shared urban facility." Member schools include primary user
California State University, East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...
as well as Lincoln University,
New College of California New College of California was a college founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President John Leary. It ceased operations in early 2008. New College's main campus was housed in several buildings in the Missio ...
,
Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate ...
, SFSU Multimedia Studies Program, UC Berkeley Extension,
University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree leve ...
and Peralta Community College District.


Media

Oakland is served by major television stations broadcasting primarily out of San Francisco and San Jose. The region's Fox O&O, KTVU 2, is based in (and licensed to) Oakland at Jack London Square along with co-owned independent station KICU-TV 36 (licensed to San Jose). In addition, the city is served by various AM and FM radio stations as well; AM stations KKSF 910, KMKY 1310 and
KNEW KNEW may refer to: * The ICAO code for New Orleans Lakefront Airport, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States * KNEW (AM), a radio station on 960 kHz, licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, that carries the KNEW call s ...
960 are licensed to Oakland. Oakland was served by the ''
Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...
'', which published its first newspaper on February 21, 1874. The
Tribune Tower The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built between 1923 and 1925, the international design competition for the tower became a historic event in 20th-ce ...
, which features a large clock, is an Oakland landmark. At key times throughout the day (8:00 am, noon and 5:00 pm), the clock tower carillon plays a variety of classic melodies, which change daily. In 2007, the Oakland Tribune moved its offices from the tower to an East Oakland location, before folding in 2011. The ''
East Bay Express The ''East Bay Express'' is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is distributed throughout Alameda County and parts of Contra Costa County every Wednesday. The ' ...
'', a locally owned free weekly paper, is based in Jack London Square and distributed throughout the East Bay. Oaklandwiki is a thriving (mostly) English-language
LocalWiki LocalWiki is a collaborative project that aims to collect and open the world's local knowledge. The LocalWiki project was founded by DavisWiki creators Mike Ivanov and Philip Neustrom and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Fr ...
.


Infrastructure


Transportation


Air and rail

Oakland residents have access to the three major airports of the San Francisco Bay Area:
Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...
,
San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middl ...
, and San Jose International Airport. Oakland International Airport, within Oakland's city limits, is south of downtown Oakland and serves domestic and international destinations.
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" r ...
provides 24-hour service to the airport, and BART's Coliseum–Oakland International Airport
automated guideway transit An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...
line provides frequent service between the airport and Oakland Coliseum station. The city has regional and long-distance passenger train service provided by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
, with stations near Jack London Square and the
RingCentral Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ...
. Amtrak's ''
California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...
'' has its western terminus at the nearby Emeryville station. Historically, the city was served by several train companies, which terminated in different terminals. Santa Fe trains terminated at its Oakland depot, actually located within the city limits of Emeryville at 40th and San Pablo. Southern Pacific trains ended at the 16th Street Station. Western Pacific trains ended at the 3rd and Washington station. However, a common feature was that the different railroads continued one more stop to a station at
Oakland Pier The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Rail ...
. From this latter point passengers would ride ferries to San Francisco.


Mass transit and bicycling

Data compiled in 2007 by the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
before gasoline price spikes in 2008, showed that 24.3% of Oaklanders used public transportation, walked or used "other means" to commute to work, not including
remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...
, with 17% of Oakland households being "car free" and/or statistically categorized as having "no vehicles available." Bus transit service in Oakland and the inner
East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...
is provided by the Alameda and Contra Costa Transit District,
AC Transit AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" r ...
. The district originated in 1958 after the conspiratorial dissolution of the
Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, California, Oakland, Berkeley, California, Berkeley, Alameda, California, Alameda, Emeryville, California, Emeryville, Piedmont, Ca ...
of streetcars. Many AC Transit lines follow old routes of the Key System. Intercity bus companies that serve Oakland include
Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
,
BoltBus BoltBus was an intercity bus common carrier and a division of Greyhound Lines that operated from March 2008 until July 2021 in the northeast and western United States and British Columbia, Canada. As least one ticket on every bus was randomly ...
,
Megabus Megabus may refer to: * Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. * Megabus (North America), a low-cost bus service in the United States and Canada owned by Variant Equity Advisors. * Megabús, a ...
, USAsia, and Hoang Transportation. The metropolitan area is served by
Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which u ...
(BART) from eight stations in Oakland. The system has headquarters in Oakland, with major transfer hubs at MacArthur and 19th Street stations. BART's headquarters was in a building above the Lake Merritt BART station until 2006, when it relocated to the Kaiser Center due to seismic safety concerns. The
Alameda / Oakland Ferry San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday a ...
operates ferry service from Jack London Square to
Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...
,
Oracle Park Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curren ...
,
Pier 41 Pier 41 is a ferry terminal on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The former headquarters of Blue & Gold Fleet, their box offices are now located at Pier 39. The Pier is located east of the Fisherman's Wharf district and to the west of Pie ...
, the
San Francisco Ferry Building The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San ...
, and the South San Francisco Ferry Terminal. Oakland licenses taxi cabs, and has zoned cab stands in its downtown, including a bicycle pedi-cab service. The Oakland City Council adopted a Bicycle Master Plan in 1999 as a part of the Land Use and Transportation (LUTE) element of Oakland's 1998 General Plan. The creation of the plan was to promote alternatives to the private automobile. The Oakland City Council reaffirmed the bike plan in 2005, revised it in 2007, and reaffirmed it in 2012. From 1999 to 2007, the city installed 900 bike racks throughout Oakland, accommodating over 2,000 bicycles. By the end of 2017, over 160 bikeway miles and 9,900 bike parking spaces were constructed. Facilities for parking thousands of bicycles have been installed downtown and in other commercial districts throughout Oakland. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011
American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
, Oakland came in seventh place out of the 100 largest cities in the nation by percentage of people that chose to commute by bike in 2011.


Motorized scooters

In July 2019, the City of Oakland Department of Transportation announced that it had issued official permits for the deployment of shared e-scooters to four companies:
Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
, Clevr, Lime, and Lyft. Oakland requires these operators to educate users on the correct and safe use of scooters, to distribute the scooters equitably throughout the city, to ensure accessibility, and to provide insurance and indemnification.


Bridges, freeways, and tunnels

Oakland is served by several major highways: Eastbound Bay Bridge traffic entering Oakland then splits into three freeways at the
MacArthur Maze The MacArthur Maze (or simply the Maze, also called the Distribution Structure) is a large freeway interchange near the east end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in Oakland, California. It splits Bay Bridge traffic into three freeways— ...
freeway interchange: Interstate 580 (MacArthur Freeway) heads southeast toward Hayward and eventually to the
California Central Valley The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It is wide and runs approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state. It cover ...
; Interstate 880 (Nimitz Freeway) runs south to San Jose; and the Eastshore Freeway (
Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one ...
/I-580) runs north, providing connections to
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
and San Rafael, respectively.
Interstate 980 Interstate 980 (I-980) is a short auxiliary Interstate Highway entirely within Oakland in Northern California, connecting I-580 and State Route 24 (SR 24) to I-880 near Downtown Oakland. I-980 passes the Oakland Convention Cen ...
(Williams Freeway) begins its eastbound journey at I-880 in Downtown Oakland before turning into State Route 24 (Grove Shafter Freeway) at I-580. State Route 13 begins as the Warren Freeway at I-580, and runs through a scenic valley in the Montclair District before entering Berkeley. A stub of a planned freeway was constructed at the High Street exit from the Nimitz Freeway, but that freeway extension plan was abandoned. At the time of the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
, the
Cypress Street Viaduct The Cypress Street Viaduct, often referred to as the Cypress Structure or the Cypress Freeway, was a 1.6-mile-long (2.5 km), raised two-deck, multi-lane (four lanes per tier) freeway constructed of reinforced concrete that was originally pa ...
double-deck segment of the Nimitz Freeway collapsed, killing 42 people. The old freeway segment had passed through the middle of West Oakland, forming a barrier between West Oakland neighborhoods. Following the earthquake, this section was rerouted around the perimeter of West Oakland and rebuilt in 1997–2001. The east span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge also suffered damage from the quake when a 50-foot (15-m) section of the upper deck collapsed onto the lower deck; the damaged section was repaired within a month of the earthquake. As a result of Loma Prieta, a significant seismic retrofit was performed on the western span of the Bay Bridge. The eastern span has now been replaced with a dramatic single-tower self-anchoring suspension span. Two underwater tunnels, the
Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta * Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United Stat ...
and Posey Tubes, connect the main island of Alameda to downtown Oakland, coming above ground in Chinatown. In addition, the Park Street, Fruitvale, and High Street bridges connect Alameda to East Oakland over the Oakland Estuary. In the hills, the
Leimert Bridge Leimert Bridge is located in the Oakmore neighborhood of Oakland, California. It spans and is high above Sausal Creek. It is a cement and steel arch bridge. When it was built in 1926, it was the largest single-span bridge on the West Coast. T ...
crosses Dimond Canyon, connecting the Oakmore neighborhood to Park Boulevard. The
Caldecott Tunnel The Caldecott Tunnel is an east–west highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. Its four bores carry California State Route 24. Named after Thomas E. Caldecott, former mayor of Berkeley, it opened in 19 ...
carries Highway 24 through the
Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de l ...
, connecting central Contra Costa County to Oakland. The Caldecott has four bores.


Oakland Slow Streets Program

On April 11, 2020, the City of Oakland launched its Slow Streets Program. This was facilitated in part by the sudden decrease of vehicle traffic that resulted from the state-wide stay-at-home order and school closures in response to the spread of the COVID-19 in California. The goal of the program was to “support safe physical activity and alleviate overcrowding in parks and on trails by discouraging through traffic.” This was accomplished by closing 74 miles of streets to through traffic. Over the course of three months the city installed “soft closure” barriers consisting of signage, traffic cones, and barricades in over 21 miles of city streets. While the primary goal at the time was to encourage socially distanced outdoor physical activities like biking, walking, and jogging, the long term implementation of the Slow Streets Program contributed to the city's
traffic calming Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. It has become a tool to combat speeding and other unsafe behaviours of drivers in the neighbourhoods. It aims to encourage safe ...
measures and promoted
alternatives to car use Established alternatives to car use include cycling, walking, kick scooters, rollerblading, skateboarding, twikes and (electric or internal combustion) motorcycles. Other alternatives are public transport vehicles ( buses, guided buses, tro ...
as well. Although the Slow Streets Program was initially praised for its rapid implementation and prioritization of pedestrian safety, the Oakland Department of Transportation quickly came under fire for its failure to collect feedback that represented the opinions of the diverse range of residents whom the program affected. The high engagement with online surveys by wealthy white residents initially suggested an almost universally positive reaction to the program. The disproportionately low number of responses from residents of East Oakland—a largely Black and Latino and low-income area—revealed both the oversight of city officials as well as the shortcomings of urban planning systems’ ability to equally benefit different social groups, which consequently perpetuates inequalities like the transport divide. After the flaws of the feedback forms were brought to light, city planners made concentrated efforts to meet with representatives from different community groups who in turn stressed that simply closing streets to through traffic wasn't enough to protect pedestrians from dangerous driving. In response the city expressed its commitment to its local residents calling for
road traffic safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-road ...
by rolling out Slow Streets: Essential Places, a phase of the program which installed cones and signage at dangerous traffic areas in order to make grocery stores, COVID-19 test sites, and food distribution sites easily and safely accessible.


Freight rail

Freight service, which consists primarily of moving shipping containers to and from the Port of Oakland, is provided today by
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
(UP), and to a lesser extent by
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
(which now shares the tracks of the UP between Richmond and Oakland). Historically, Oakland was served by several railroads. Besides the transcontinental line of the Southern Pacific, there was also the Santa Fe (whose Oakland terminal was actually in Emeryville), the
Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...
(who built a pier adjacent to the SP's), and the Sacramento Northern Railroad (eventually absorbed by the Western Pacific, which in turn was absorbed by UP in 1983).


Shipping

As one of the three major ports on the
West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
, the Port of Oakland is the largest seaport on San Francisco Bay and the fifth busiest container port in the United States. It was one of the earliest seaports to switch to containerization and to intermodal container transfer, thereby displacing the
Port of San Francisco The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. Th ...
, which never modernized its waterfront. One of the earlier limitations to growth was the inability to transfer containers to rail lines, all cranes historically operating between ocean vessels and trucks. In the 1980s, the Port of Oakland began the evaluation of development of an intermodal container transfer capability, i.e., facilities that now allow trans-loading of containers from vessels to either trucks or rail modes.


Utilities

Public water supply In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...
and
sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding en ...
are provided by East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD).
Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 millio ...
(PG & E) provides natural gas and electricity service. Municipal garbage collection is franchised to
Waste Management, Inc Waste Management, Inc., doing business as WM, is a waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company operating in North America. Founded in 1968, the company is headquartered in the Bank of America Tower in Houston, ...
. Telecommunications and subscriber television services are provided by multiple private corporations and other service providers in accordance with the competitive objectives of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...
. Oakland tops the list of the 50 largest US cities using electricity from renewable sources.


Healthcare

Originating in Oakland,
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Per ...
is an
HMO In the United States, a health maintenance organization (HMO) is a medical insurance group that provides health services for a fixed annual fee. It is an organization that provides or arranges managed care for health insurance, self-funded heal ...
started in 1942, during World War II, by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser to provide medical care for
Kaiser Shipyards The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the West Coast of the United States, United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The s ...
workers. It is the largest managed care organization in the United States and the largest non-governmental health care provider in the world. It is headquartered at One Kaiser Plaza in Downtown Oakland and maintains a large medical center in the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood.
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Sutter Health Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its three hospital campuses are located in Berkeley (Alta Bates Campus, Herrick Campus) and Oakland (Summit Campus). Alta Bates Summit is a ...
, an East Bay hospital system, maintains its Summit Campus in the neighborhood known as "Pill Hill" north of downtown. Until 2000, it was the Summit Medical Center before merging with Berkeley-based Alta Bates. All campuses now operate under the
Sutter Health Sutter Health is a not-for-profit integrated health delivery system headquartered in Sacramento, California. It operates 24 acute care hospitals and over 200 clinics in Northern California. Sutter Hospital Association was founded in 1921 as a r ...
network. Alameda Health System is an integrated public
health care system Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, Mental health, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World H ...
organized as a public hospital authority. It operates five Alameda County hospitals including Oakland's Highland Hospital and four primary care medical clinics including Oakland's Highland Wellness Center and Eastmont Wellness Center.
Children's Hospital Oakland UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland formerly known as Children's Hospital Oakland, is a pediatric acute care hospital located in Oakland, California. The hospital has 191 beds and is affiliated with the UCSF School of Medicine. The hospital pr ...
is the primary medical center specializing in
pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...
in the East Bay. It is a designated Level I pediatric trauma center and the only independent children's hospital in Northern California. There are also several
community health center A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...
s in Oakland. Some examples include Lifelong Medical Care, Asian Health Services, and Roots Community Health Center.


Notable people


International relations


Sister cities

Oakland has 13
sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
:


Friendship cities

Oakland has 18 friendship cities: *
Agadir Agadir ( ar, أݣادير, ʾagādīr; shi, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and south ...
, Morocco *
Bahir Dar Bahir Dar ( amh, ባሕር ዳር, 3=sea shore) is the capital city of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The ...
, Ethiopia *
Changping District Changping District (), formerly Changping County (), is a district situated in the suburbs of north and northwest Beijing. History Changping County and Jundu County which administered the area were established in the Han Dynasty. Changping was i ...
,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, China *
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
,
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, China *
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
,
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
, China *
Haikou Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the Ha ...
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Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
, China *
Jing'an District Jing'an District () is one of the central districts of Shanghai. In 2014, it had 1,180,000 inhabitants in an area of . The district borders the Hongkou District to the east, Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District to the east and south, Put ...
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Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, China *
Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...
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Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
, China *
Jurong, Jiangsu Jurong () is a county-level city under the administration of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, China. In 129 BC, the then Prince of Changsha Liu Fa's son, Dang became the Marquis of Jurong. As he died soon, the lands enfeoffed to him became Jurong cou ...
, China *
Maoming Maoming, alternately romanized as Mowming, is a prefecture-level city located in southwestern Guangdong province, China. Facing the South China Sea to the city's south, Maoming city borders Zhanjiang to the west, Yangjiang to the east, and Y ...
, Guangdong, China *
Mianyang Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thre ...
, Sichuan, China *
Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of ...
,
Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
, China *
Pudong Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic city ...
, Shanghai, China *
Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...
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Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
, China *
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Develo ...
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Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
, China *
Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...
, Mongolia *
Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the L ...
, Shandong, China


See also

* Northern California Megaregion *
List of cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a metropolitan region surrounding the San Francisco Bay estuaries in Northern California. According to the 2010 United States Census, the region has over 7.1 million inhabitants and ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Oakland, California The U.S. city of Oakland, California is the site of more than 95 high-rises, the majority of which are located in its downtown district. In the city, there are 30 buildings taller than . The tallest building is the 28- story Ordway Buil ...
*
Oakland Ebonics controversy African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) has been the center of controversy about the education of African-American youths, the role AAVE should play in public schools and education, and its place in broader society. Overview By definition, ...


Notes


References


External links


Official website – oaklandca.gov

Visit Oakland: Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau
* Oakland on LocalWiki * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakland, California Incorporated cities and towns in California Cities in Alameda County, California 1852 establishments in California California Enterprise Zones Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area County seats in California Port cities in California Populated coastal places in California Populated places established in 1852